Whats Happening With Project Scorpio?

All the latest news and rumors on Project Scorpio in one article.

As we’re closing in on the E3 conference this coming weekend, more hints, rumors and news are slowly leaking out about Microsoft’s Project Scorpio, the most powerful console ever made.

Here is this week’s latest and greatest.

Microsoft trademarks new logo

Recently, Microsoft applied for a trademark that could be the logo for Project Scorpio.

Below is a screen capture of the application sent to the European Patent & Trademark Agency. What’s most interesting is under the “classification” section: 9 stands for video game and 28 stands for console.

The logo to be trademarked is featured in the upper left-hand corner of the application. Until now, it was assumed that Scorpio was a code name, but the logo clearly features a single letter ‘S’. Does this mean it will be official name of the console? Or another name beginning with an ‘S’?

Sony’s reaction to the price

In an interview with Gaming Bolt, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter claimed that if Project Scoprio is less than $399 USD, then it’s likely Sony would slash PS4 Pro’s price to undercut its competitor.

“PS4 Pro’s price will drop if Xbox Scorpio is $399,” he said. “If Scorpio is more expensive, [then Sony have] no reason to cut the Pro’s price.”

This claim makes sense. The PS4 Pro will have been out for over a year once Project Scorpio releases this Holiday season and the Pro won’t be nearly as powerful as Project Scorpio. Cutting the price may save Sony some lost sales to the newer, more advanced console.

Why the dev kits have that screen in front

Earlier this week, Xbox released a video focusing on the Project Scorpio Dev Kit. Most notably, they clarified the function of the FPS screen on the front of the console.

Previously, it had been rumored that the screen would display the frames-per-second for any game.

In the video, Major Nelson, joined by Kevin Gammill from the engineering team, explained that the screen is a display for the programmable buttons – which can be programmed to do whatever the developer wants. When you push one of Project Scorpio’s button, its function appears on the display.

Kevin Gammill also mentions that some developers have used the screen for mini-games or even to display frames-per-second. So it seems an FPS counter isn’t completely out of the question.

This Sunday, June 11, Project Scorpio will have its official reveal at Microsoft’s E3 2017 conference. There, we’ll expect to hear final name, price, release date, and some of the first games available at launch.